Nov 10, 2011

Turnip Greens Stir fry with Potato

To be honest I was never a green leafy veggie lover :-) but my parents were very strict when it came to eating healthy and I had to eat whatever was served. I gobbled it down to be precise without chewing ;-)
Spinach (Palak) used to be the most cooked green leafy veggie at home, and my mom would prepare it as a stirfry with coconut (thoran) or mayb add it to lentil soup (daal) or sometimes make Palak Paneer (spinach cooked in Indian cottage cheese) , which somehow I liked!

Well whichever way it was cooked, I never liked the taste. Now I'm sure you are thinking I am writing about the wrong dish here talking about Spinach when ideally my post is on Turnip greens !
Don't worry, now coming to my main dish here, it was my mother-in-law who introduced me to this leafy dish. She convinced me that its tastes good and persuaded me to give it a try, and was I glad I did!

Since it was my first try my MIL suggested to add potato so that in case I din't like the taste of the Turnip greens I would atleast have a potato to save my day :-)
Not only did it taste good, it wasn't too watery or soggy as how spinach would be when cooked, and it had a pretty good leafy taste and no weird smell. Thank you Mummy!! :-)

I prepared it as our usual Kerala style thoran with some grated coconut, but you can skip the coconut if you want. I have already given a small heads-up about thoran in my post on Beetroot thoran .

Directions:
1. Wash the Turnip Greens well and place them on a kitchen towel or stand the leaves in a bowl to drain the water off. Chop the leaves into thin strips.
2. Using a mixer grinder, pulse together the grated coconut with garlic and green chillies , make sure it does not become a paste.
3. In a large frying pan heat the oil and crack mustard seeds , then add the dry red chillies and curry leaves and saute for 1 minute.
4. Add the red onions, cubed potato, turmeric powder and add salt and saute until onions becomes soft and pink.
5. Now toss in the leaves and cover and cook until the leaves are tender. (for about 5 -10mins)
6. Add the grinded coconut mixture and cook with the lid off on medium heat until the potato gets cooked and the entire thoran is dry.
7. Serve hot with plain rice and maybe some curry if you like.

I must however mention that I still cook Spinach at home and consider it to be very healthy , but Turnip Greens would be my favorite green leafy dish so far !! :-)
And according to my MIL Radish greens also taste quite nice , similar to Turnip greens, so I guess my next trial would be on Radish greens ;-)

Thanks a lot you all for so much interest in this dish and fr leaving your valuable comments.Aipi and Uma - I also used to pass the green lefty section at the store without a glance at these leaves n yes thanks to my MIL now we all know :)